The present invention, generally, relates to the field of simulators and, more particularly, to a new and improved strucutral arrangement for a vehicle simulator.
Due to recent advances in simulator technology, simulators are expected to supplant all in-flight training of pilots, and therefore, commercial pilots can expect to receive their Federal Licenses directly upon the completion of their flight training in simulators. Such simulator-trained commercial pilots, then, could carry paying passengers, even though they have never flow an actual aircraft before.
Both commercial and military pilots already use simulators for much of their training. However, commercial pilots today must log at least 1,500 hours of actual flying time in one type of plane or another. It is acknowledged by many today that most of the technical deficiencies in older simulators are overcome completely in the newer, present-day simulators. For example, the newer models of simulators can duplicate with startling realism day, night and dusk flying conditions, icy runways, wind problems and nearly every type of emergency imaginable.
Behind much of the additional realism achieved in the newer simulators today are several technical improvements: computers that are the brains of the simulators are faster and more sophisticated; computer-generated imagery on television screens is much sharper and much more versatile than old-style cameras that scanned maps; hydraulic-motion systems deliver better twists, tugs, bumps and jolts.
It is acknowledged also that the biggest advantage of training pilots by use of simulators, particularly the newer models of simulators, is that a simulator can create "unsafe" conditions, such as, for example, tire blowouts and engine failures, that cannot be duplicated in an actual aircraft during training without jeopardizing equipment and human life. It is acknowledged further that the training of a pilot on a simulator, particularly the newer, present-day simulators, turns out a much more proficient and experienced pilot.
While much attention has been given in recent times to the technical advancements in simulators, very little attention has been given to the structural details involved in a simulator apparatus in order to achieve a maximum of realism while overcoming other disadvantages. Heretofore, for example, when an aircraft was to be simulated, the cockpit from an actual model of the aircraft was used. Today, however, such duplication is prohibitive costwise.
Roughly 20 years ago, the efforts toward cost reduction produced some important results by fabricating the cockpit for an aircraft from molded fiberglass. The savings available due to that improvement overshadowed other disadvantages that have plagued the industry ever since, such as lack of accessibility, lack of fit of components and parts as on an actual aircraft (due to an inherent difficulty in maintaining close tolerances in fiberglass parts) and a difficulty in attaching parts, terminal connectors and the like to the thin fiberglass ribs.